Photo by Sean Gardner/Getty Images By Adam Carabine The StatChat Power Rankings return in 2026! While finishing position is important, it’s not always indicative of the full picture. StatChat rankings are determined using a large number of statistical inputs. Let's look at the Top 10: Ty Gibbs – This week: 10 – Last week: 10 It was a solid day at the track for Ty Gibbs at Watkins Glen. Unfortunately, no one was a match for SVG and his road course prowess, but Gibbs led a

Photo by David Jensen/Getty Images By Adam Carabine The StatChat Power Rankings return in 2026! While finishing position is important, it’s not always indicative of the full picture. StatChat rankings are determined using a large number of statistical inputs. Let's look at the Top 10: Ty Gibbs – This week: 10 – Last week: 6 It was a rough week at the track for Ty Gibbs in Texas. While the driver is still buoyed up into the Top 10 by his first career win a few weeks ago, h

By Adam Carabine Happy weekend everyone, it’s time for another edition of Stats Saturday. This weekend the Cup Series travels to Kansas City, Kansas for the Advent Health 400 at Kansas Speedway. Kansas is a 1.5-mile tri-oval speedway, built in 2001. Jeff Gordon won the first Cup Series race there that same year. Kyle Larson won this race in the spring last year, and Chase Elliott won it in the fall. Tomorrow’s race will be 267 laps long (for a total of 400.5 miles), wit

By Adam Carabine Happy weekend everyone, it’s time for another edition of O’Reilly Stats Friday. This weekend the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series travels to Kansas City, Kansas for the Kansas Lottery 300 at Kansas Speedway. Kansas is a 1.5-mile tri-oval speedway, built in 2001. Jeff Green won the first O’Reilly Series race there that same year. Brandon Jones won the most recent race at Kansas last year. Tomorrow’s race will be 200 laps long (for a total of 300 miles), with s

Photo by Jacob Kupferman/Getty Images By Adam Carabine The StatChat Power Rankings return in 2026! While finishing position is important, it’s not always indicative of the full picture. StatChat rankings are determined using a large number of statistical inputs. Let's look at the Top 10: Bubba Wallace – This week: 10 – Last week: 9 Despite losing another spot in the Power Rankings, this was a nice bounce-back race for Bubba Wallace after a bad one in Martinsville a few wee

By Adam Carabine Happy weekend everyone, it’s time for another edition of Stats Saturday. This weekend the NASCAR Cup Series travels to Bristol, Tennessee for the Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway. Bristol is a 0.533-mile short track oval, with a concrete surface and heavy banking in the corners. The track was built in 1961, and has been a staple on the Cup Series calendar ever since. Jack Smith won the first Cup race there that same year. Christopher Bell won the

By Adam Carabine Happy weekend everyone, it’s time for another edition of O’Reilly Stats Friday. This weekend the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series travels to Bristol, Tennessee for the Suburban Propane 300 at Bristol Motor Speedway. Bristol is a 0.533-mile short track oval, with a concrete surface and heavy banking in the corners. The track was built in 1961, and has been a staple on the O’Reilly Series calendar since its inception in 1982. Phil Parsons won the first O’Reilly

By Adam Carabine Happy weekend everyone, you might be familiar with the Cup Series’ Stats Saturday article, but this year we are branching it out to the Top 3 Series. It’s now time for another Truck Stats Thursday. This weekend the Craftsman Truck Series travels to Bristol, Tennessee for the Tennessee Army National Guard 250 at Bristol Motor Speedway. Bristol is a 0.533-mile short track oval, with a concrete surface and heavy banking in the corners. The track was built in

Photo by David Jensen/Getty Images By Adam Carabine The StatChat Power Rankings return in 2026! While finishing position is important, it’s not always indicative of the full picture. StatChat rankings are determined using a large number of statistical inputs. Let's look at the Top 10: Kyle Larson – This week: 10 – Last week: 9 It was neither a dominant nor a terrible performance from Kyle Larson at Martinsville. Larson can be hit or miss, where he’s crashing out early, or

By Adam Carabine Happy weekend everyone, it’s time for another edition of Stats Saturday. This weekend the NASCAR Cup Series travels to Ridgeway, Virginia for the Cook Out 400 at Martinsville Speedway Martinsville is a 0.526-mile oval track, nicknamed “The Paperclip,” because of its uniquely tight corners and longer straightaways. It opened in 1947, with Red Byron winning the first NASCAR race there in 1949. Denny Hamlin and William Byron won the races at this track last

By Adam Carabine Happy weekend everyone, it’s time for another edition of O’Reilly Stats Friday. This weekend the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series travels to Ridgeway, Virginia for the NFPA 250 at Martinsville Speedway. Martinsville is a 0.526-mile oval track, nicknamed “The Paperclip,” because of its uniquely tight corners and longer straightaways. It opened in 1947, though O’Reilly Auto Parts Series races started taking place the same year the series started – 1982. Sam Ard

Photo by Jonathan Bachman/Getty Images By Adam Carabine The StatChat Power Rankings return in 2026! While finishing position is important, it’s not always indicative of the full picture. StatChat rankings are determined using a large number of statistical inputs. Let's look at the Top 10: Chris Buescher – This week: 10 – Last week: 13 It was a great day, not just for Chris Buescher, but for the entire RFK Team, as they at one point were running 1-2-3. Buescher had a very

By Adam Carabine Happy weekend everyone, it’s time for another edition of O’Reilly Stats Friday. This weekend the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series travels to Las Vegas, Nevada for The LiUNA! at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Las Vegas is a 1.5-mile tri-oval speedway. It opened in 1971, though O’Reilly Auto Parts Series races didn’t start taking place there until 1997. Jeff Green won the first race there in this series. Justin Allgaier won this race last year in the spring, and Ari

Photo by James Gilbert/Getty Images By Adam Carabine The StatChat Power Rankings return in 2026! While finishing position is important, it’s not always indicative of the full picture. StatChat rankings are determined using a large number of statistical inputs. Let's look at the Top 10: Kyle Larson – This week: 10 – Last week: 12 Larson joked that he seems to always finish P3 at Phoenix, and it is kind of true. He’s finished third at Phoenix six times over the course of hi

By Adam Carabine Welcome to the StatChat NASCAR Games! If you’re new here, this year I thought it might be fun to share some of the silly little games I play on my NASCAR Excel Sheet throughout the season as we follow along. BRACKET GAMES These games are similar to NASCAR’s In-Season Tournament, as created by Denny Hamlin, but it lasts all season long. Drivers are originally seeded by a mixture of performance from last year, with some creative discretion from myself.

By Adam Carabine Happy weekend everyone, it’s time for another edition of Stats Saturday. This weekend the NASCAR Cup Series travels to Avondale, Arizona for the Straight Talk Wireless 500 at Phoenix Raceway. Phoenix is a 1-mile oval with a signature dogleg just past the start/finish line. It served as the Championship Race for the past six years, though that has changed in 2026. The track opened in 1964, but the Cup Series didn’t start racing there until 1988. Alan Kulw

By Adam Carabine Happy weekend everyone, it’s time for another edition of O’Reilly Stats Friday. This weekend the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series travels to Avondale, Arizona for the GOVX 200 at Phoenix Raceway. Phoenix is a 1-mile oval with a signature dogleg just past the start/finish line. It served as the Championship Race for the past six years, though that has changed in 2026. The track opened in 1964, but the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series didn’t start racing there until 19

By Adam Carabine Welcome to the StatChat NASCAR Games! We are now three races into the 2026 season, and I thought it might be fun to share some of the silly little games I play on my NASCAR Excel Sheet. BRACKET GAMES These games are similar to NASCAR’s In-Season Tournament, as created by Denny Hamlin, but it lasts all season long. Drivers are originally seeded by a mixture of performance from last year, with some creative discretion from myself. Each week, whichever d

Photo by James Gilbert/Getty Images By Adam Carabine The StatChat Power Rankings return in 2026! While finishing position is important, it’s not always indicative of the full picture. StatChat rankings are determined using a large number of statistical inputs. Let's look at the Top 10: Michael McDowell – This week: 10 – Last week: 23 McDowell is great at the drafting tracks, and at road courses. After the first two races of the year didn’t go his way (he finished P22 and

By Adam Carabine Happy weekend everyone, it’s time for another edition of Stats Saturday. This weekend the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series travels to Austin, Texas for the DuraMAX Grand Prix at Circuit of the Americas, or COTA. The portion of the track that NASCAR uses at COTA is a 17-turn 2.4-mile road course. The facility opened in 2012, and NASCAR first visited in 2021. Christopher Bell won this race last year. Tomorrow’s race will be 95 laps long (for a total of 223.82 mi